We delight in the potential of this still, quiet dawn and the precious uniqueness of these green islands of Aotearoa New Zealand.

We give thanks for what is ours and ours alone: For our weta and katipo, our kakapo and kokako; for our Maui dolphins and pipi, our cabbage trees and harakeke.

May we have the courage and the grace to live in harmony with creation – to nurture and protect those wild places that we love and sustain us.

We are thankful for the inspiration of the great women in our own country – Princess Te Puea, Dame Mira Szaszy, Sister Mary Aubert, and Millicent Baxter – women who have shown us how the power of love, peace, compassion, courage, and wisdom can transform poverty and hardship into strength and well being.

How can we, as this country’s leaders, address the inequity that has grown up amongst us?

How can we build a nation where we trust and look after one another – where we are our brother’s and sisters keeper – not their bitter rival?

We look to the children of our country for this inspiration, their unconditional love, their need for care and comfort.

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39 thoughts on “My prayer for the nation this Waitangi Day”

I couldn’t help but note “greenfly’s” vitriol toward the PM. It would appear that he / she regards JK is a bit of a parasite further sucking the NZ populance dry.
Perhaps it’s the gardener in me greenfly but may I make a suggestion that if you wish to be quite disassociated from Key that you consider a name change. Greenfly is another word for aphid (just in case you were not aware) and they are not regarded favourably given that they slurp the sap out of plants, spread disease and generally contribute to vegetational demise. Best thing is to spray them dead. Sorry dude, but that’s a fact.

Not automatically. It actually depends on the company constitution. Also, 51% of voting rights does not always equal 51% of shares or capital invested.

The question of minority rights actually gets quite complicated, therefore the simplest way of maintaining public utility for a good that is critical and non-substitutable (like energy), is to maintain a public monopoly (or alternatively, free up the capital structure and closely regulate).

Unfortunately the current government is choosing the worst possible scenario – privatise a portion while socialising the ongoing risk (i.e. cost of replacement) and refusing to beef up regulation to ensure public utility.

If you’re saying “a house for life” you’re handing control to the occupier by contract, even though you’re using their neighbor to fund it.

Not quite. This is the difference between de jure and de facto ownership and is entirely down to the formation of the contract.

Ownership is control. If you own no part of something, you can control no aspect of it. Control is basically proportional to ownership.

To whit, no one would give you money for something – 51% or 100% of your house – without expecting the requisite bundle of rights* that comes with their purchase. By the act of transferring your property you are transferring your property rights, in perpetuity.

The only way a non-private entity (i.e. the government) can subvert this established bundle of rights is by superseding them via legislation – something the current government has been quick to shy away from.

*the bundle of right being commonly understood to be:

1. the right to use the good in perpetuity
2. the right to earn income from the good in perpetuity
3. the right to transfer the good to others without interference
4. the right to enforcement of property rights via the courts

Why don’t you insist government owns 100% of, say, the buildings it resides in in Wellington? In reality, they own very few. Why? Doesn’t make sense to tie up all that capital being owners when it’s the use and control they want. Same with power. Power generation is not going anywhere, it’s simply a question of how much capital you want to leave tied up.

Is that the referendum that’s taken you eight months of concerted effort by a political party and you still haven’t got the numbers? Let’s say people do come out against it – will you then recognise the results of the smacking referendum and insist the government act on it?

Why aren’t you flapping about Air New Zealand? How can we possibly not own 100% of our airline! The horror!

Why this stupid fixation with ownership? Forget about ownership and look at the return to the taxpayer. You know why the likes of Google/Facebook et al float on the stockmarket? Because using other people’s money makes a lot more sense that capitalising it all yourself.

Key is stealing nothing from Maori. They no more own water than they own Saturn.

John Key is attempting to steal from Maori, and from all other New Zealanders, as bjchip correctly points out. I don’t care about Labour. I don’t “agree with his politics” as you suggest and I do think that his attempted theft is a very good reason for some on the marae to “be rude to him”. They just weren’t rude enough, in my opinion.

My brother is married to a Maori woman and my nephews and niece look Maori. Every time I’ve been to their Marae, I’ve felt nothing but welcome. It’s a very pleasant place, but perhaps they do it differently up north.

Eloquent and appealing to the best in us humans. well done Metiria. One must make those speaches. That keeps the divine goal clear. One must also slog with tactics and cleverness to find the cracks in the other side’s argument that we can open wider and, as Leonard Cohen puos it”Cracks are where the light gets in”. Politics is both the idealism and the persuasion and direct action that embarrasses government etc when needed. But the idealism here is a our vital starting point.

Protest and challenge on marae is a time honoured tradition. Demanding politeness is a modern affectation. “Courageous” Mr Key’s been lucky, so far. At any rate, his goons are always at his elbow. It’s all theatre and of no account.

Really? Because I’ve yet to encounter it on a Marae. As a guest, I’m always treated very well, and certainly not rudely.

Granted, I haven’t been to a Northland Marae. Perhaps they do it differently up there.

Protest and challenge on marae is a time honoured tradition. Demanding politeness is a modern affectation. “Courageous” Mr Key’s been lucky, so far. At any rate, his goons are always at his elbow. It’s all theatre and of no account.
What about the Maori unemployment figures, Your Courageousness?

A Marae is not the same as a house, and the Maori people aren’t a family. I think there is a theft occurring, but I disagree that it is the Maori alone suffering the loss. Should they ALL be polite? Not all would have extended an invitation. Yet there was an invitation, is it honorable to insult a guest? Is it a message that MUST be delivered this way?

He’s trying too. I hope he fails. You ‘what rock have you been under’ implies that I’m some sort of lowly cockroach-like creature – thanks for the insult – I’d hate to be a guest in your house!
Your ‘transfer of wealth’ comment reveals your Tory core. It’s not pretty.

If you had a standing invitation for someone to visit your house and they meanwhile took you to court to take from you something you know to be yours, something enormously valuable, would you treat them civilly?
I’d not let them through the door. I’d greet them with a rain of clods.
Maori are too, too polite for my liking.

THAT is true Arana… and it separates Key who is the PM from Key who is the guest.

The question is which consideration should dominate in this specific environment. Clearly there is some “small” disagreement

However, you DO have a point about his being a guest and there being a responsibility to be civil to guests. The question is whether it overrides the responsibility to “speak truth to power”. I won’t say you are wrong to take the side of that you do. Greater civility would be a blessing for this (and many other) countries.

If I invited any Green MP to my house, I would show them respect as they are my invited guests. It does not require they earn it, or for me to agree with them, or anyone to take what *I* deem to be “responsibility”.

Some Maori “leaders” have done better than others. Hone comes to mind immediately as one of the best of them. It seems they have many of the same strengths – and weaknesses – of any other group of humans.

Respect IS earned, it cannot be given. Responsibility must be TAKEN, it cannot be given. This government takes no responsibility and earns no respect.